leaveitallbehind

Most mass market cruise lines - NCL included - do not negotiate their stateroom fares. They are the same to you as published directly from them or through a travel agent. Any deviation in price from a TA would typically be based on a group rate for which he or his agency has blocked staterooms, but this would already be reflected in his quote to you. Other perks or benefits from the TA would come out of their (agency / agents) commission, not from the cruise line, and would typically be offered at the time of the booking. To "hold out" for any extras would be better managed as a discussion with the TA to see there are additional perks he is willing to offer. But, again, that would be from their commissions. So in essence they would be willing to earn less income to provide you an additional perk.

I guess what I wasn't considering is that even with only one ship per day, back to back ship days would fill both sides of the lot. A successive third ship day prior would be difficult with parking. Thanks for helping me realize that - guess I needed a second cup of coffee LOL.

Other than emails regarding an active booking RCCL won't email you without your permission by opting into emails. They only know your email address if you provide it to them and allow them to email you with marketing updates. Most mass market cruise lines use dynamic pricing, or some version of that, as that is nothing more than reacting to, and adjusting pricing based on market demand. In our 30 years plus experience the changes are not typically that frequent that daily price watches are warranted. (And there are websites that will track fare changes for you - as will good TA's). But the benefit is that up until final payment you can adjust your fare downward when changes occur, but are protected against price increases from your original booked fare. And a rebooking is not necessary to do that - they just adjust your fare accordingly with your request.

Royal includes WIFI with their suites (which, if they are, may be what they are calling "free"). But it is charged separately for standard staterooms and purchased once a booking is made through their cruise planner or once on board. Prices are published on their website.

I wouldn't say you are naive - just probably not familiar with it. It's not unlike most businesses "come on's" with advertising. Nothing is free and you will most certainly pay for everything in one manner or another. It's all in how the fares are constructed - and the cruse lines are pros at convoluting fares to make one thing or another seem attractive LOL.

There are cruise lines, such as Celebrity, that offer all inclussive pricing that includes WIFI, but also offer "standard" pricing that does not. (Their AI also includes their standard beverage package as well). If you go with their standard pricing, you can purchase WIFI separately and they publish that rate on your cruise planner. So it is transparent. Often bundling the WIFI and beverages through their AI pricing is discounted with both somewhat, but you can easily see the difference between the two to determine if AI is advantageous or not. If you are new to cruising, working with a travel agent can be beneficial as they will know how the different cruise lines address this pricing and how much they typically charge for it.

There are some cruise lines that do not charge separately for WIFI but it is included as part of the base stateroom fare. It may be part of an all inclusive fare that includes WIFI and beverages, for example, or part of a stateroom category such as suites. But those who include WIFI as part of their pricing in these manners are not lying about it as you are not receiving a separate charge for it as with most other cruise lines and their fare structure. Also, part of the expense is based on the fact that since the ship is at sea, their WIFI connection is via satellite, which is not cheap.

It varies by cruise line, but most schedules are published about 18 months or so out. Just check the cruise lines' websites you are interested in to see their most current schedules.

Just thought I'd add this link as a reference to the Baltimore cruise terminal and parking: https://www.cruzely.com/baltimore-cruise-parking/#:~:text=Where to Park for a,and is just steps away.

You are correct that there is an overflow lot near the terminal that utilizes shuttles, but in our experience the on site parking handled everyone. But we have never seen two ships at a time there and don't think the terminal is set up to handle more than that, which would mean the parking would be dedicated to the ship in port at the time. But you can't always trust the information on CC....LOL.

Not challenging you directly but would have to question the accuracy of that information as in our experience sailing out of Baltimore, only one cruise ship has been using the terminal at a time with the lines servicing that port on a rotating schedule. I'm pretty sure only one ship can be handled on a daily basis there. The onsite parking would be utilized by each cruise line in rotation in this manner. Attached is a link to the current ship schedule for Baltimore which confirms this rotating schedule with only one ship in port at a time. https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/baltimore-port-33?month=2023-10#schedule To maintain objectivity in this, I would be interested in seeing published information contradicting this to confirm if my information is correct or not.

That would surprise me as well as there is only one cruise terminal that serves Baltimore which, to my knowledge, serves both RCCL and Carnival, and now NCL with their itineraries from there. There are two parking lots - one on each side of the terminal - that serve that port. I can't imagine that NCL would not be served by them as well.

Can't challenge your opinions on these short cruises, but I will say that using RCCL as example, while the ships they use on these itineraries are not their newest launches, none of them are "crappy" ships, all of which have been very much upgraded and modernized over the years. We've been on all of them - most several times - and although they may be midway (and with a couple maybe more) in their service life they have all been nice ships. As I mentioned before, we have never been on a short cruise, but if we lived in FL we would likely be tempted just as a long weekend getaway from time to time. If so, I think we would do so eyes wide open knowing exactly what to expect.

Not sure how long you've been sailing with RCCL but back in the day when they recalibrated their Crown & Anchor program from numbers of cruises to points per days at sea, the "leveling up" as you refer took a lot of mid-level cruisers to Diamond Plus and Pinnacle as the short cruises were converted as longer ones (i.e.: rounded up) to assure errors on the side of the customer and no concerns for short selling those loyal cruisers. Many people with a number of 3 and 4 night cruises benefited nicely based on this generous conversion. I know two people personally who jumped from Diamond to Pinnacle as a result. Having never done a short cruise I, unfortunately, was not one of them - I earned my D+ the old fashioned way LOL.

As others have mentioned, if you live within a reasonable driving distance from the departure port and just want a quick long weekend getaway, they would be fine. But they do tend to be more of a party cruise by that nature and would IMO certainly not justify air or hotel as part of the mix to do one. Buy they certainly are popular as most cruise lines with FL departure ports have ships scheduled with alternating 3 - 4 night itineraries each week due in large part to their proximity to the Bahamas and Key West. These lines also have their private island destinations in the Bahamas which is a big draw with these itineraries.

Agree. Especially as with QN and AN they are in all insides (except studio). But in those cases there would not be a determinable premium as the increased rate would apply to all LOL.

We have visited the caves on our own and it is about an hour to hour and a half from the Dockyards via ferry to Hamilton and then bus to the caves. This is dependent on timing between the two transportations and could be longer. The bus schedule is more frequent than the ferry so we time it based on the ferry. The caves require an hour or two based on their tour schedule. So I would plan on 5 - 6 hours total and would think the departure day with an early AM ferry would work fine. Just be sure of the return ferry times. You can also take the bus the whole route as an option but that is typically longer. At the entrance to the caves, which is adjacent to the bus stop, is Baileys Ice Cream Parlour and across the street is the Swizzle Inn and Pub - both good stops if time allows. The other option would be to see what ship sponsored tour would be available. Clearly they would have that timed appropriately to assure no issues.

I certainly understand the cost v ROI on older ships, but since, as you indicate, they are included on most of the new ships in some quantity, RCCL must feel there is enough interest for bookings at a premium price or they would not include them in the builds. They must see a positive market for them, even if in limited quantities. Not arguing, just addressing the business case.

Agree - they certainly are not for everyone, but they are an attractive option for some. Attached is an article discussing them from their initial limited offering in 2015 on Navigator. They have scaled them increasingly on different ships and ship classes with Quantum having them on all interiors except the studios. Just interesting information IMO. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/08/14/royal-caribbean-virtual-balcony-everything-you-wanted-know

At the time Monarch was the newest sister ship in the Sovereign class and the only of the three we never sailed on. I recall then that Sovereign was sailing the Eastern Caribbean itinerary, Majesty was the Western Caribbean (our 2nd), and Monarch was the Southern. Unfortunately we never did that itinerary when she was sailing it.

My question was as to why the category is not offered on more ships as an option - not that all inside staterooms would have them. To my knowledge most of the ships that currently offer them do not have them in all inside staterooms but as an optional category for certain inside staterooms for those who are willing to pay the premium. To me it seems the category is a popular one and I am just curios why the option is not included on more ship classes, especially the new builds launched since the virtual balconies were first offered.

They are an interesting concept. FYI from the RCCL website here is a list of ships that offer them: Symphony of the Seas®, Harmony of the Seas®, Spectrum of the Seas®, Anthem of the Seas®, Ovation of the Seas®, Quantum of the Seas®, Navigator of the Sea®s, Explorer of the Seas®, and Voyager of the Seas®. Not sure why they don't offer them on most ships, especially on the new builds since the idea was originated.

We have been fortunate to be on 18 different cruise ships (many multiple times) and could probably find reasons to mention all of them as a favorite in one way or another. But probably our most favorite was our first - and likely for the very reason that it was our first - and that would be RCCL Sovereign of the Seas in 1991. At the time she was arguably the most innovative and spectacular cruise ship afloat. By todays standards and comparisons of ships cruising today, maybe not so much. But she will always hold a special place for us as our first.

Probably the most accurate way to determine this would be to go to the NCL website and search for Baltimore departure port cruises. Here is their link: https://www.ncl.com/

I don't believe Oasis has any interior virtual balcony staterooms. The only Oasis class ships that have them to my knowledge are Harmony and Symphony. And on those ships (or any RCCL class that has them) they are not in every interior stateroom, only select categories.